Random RV Stuff

My laptop has been in the shop for nearly two weeks, and I’m not practiced enough to type and post on the blog using just my phone. I’m now on a replacement laptop and am trying to catch up.

The Mountaineer has outside speakers located at the top of the living room slideout. When we turned the radio on, we got wonderful sound from the ceiling speakers inside, but also from the outside speakers. I decided our neighbors might not always enjoy our music, so I searched for the switch for those speakers. After looking all over the trailer, it turns out the button for Speaker 3 turns the outside speakers on and off. My next bit of research is to figure out how to have the TV sound come out of the inside ceiling speakers.

There is an opening in the entertainment center cabinet for audio/video equipment. By pulling the radio, I could see that one of the rv coax cable connections in the opening comes directly from the outside cable connection. When we moved in, the TV was connected to a coax outlet in the wall above the cabinet. We have since discovered that connection on the wall comes from the roof antenna. We get varying quality on some channels, depending on whether we’re attached to cable or to the roof antenna. It’s not ideal, but if we want to watch football without snow, we simply switch the cables from one to the other.

This trim along the side of the RV tends to get really dirty. It looked like mildew and it didn’t just wash off with soap and a brush.

I’ve mentioned this product before. I use GP3 Cleaning Wax on the car. It’s a great waterless way to clean and shine a vehicle. This time, I used the General Purpose Cleaner and some steel wool to clean the white trim along the sides of the RV. Because the trim is made of some kind of soft material, I used a very light touch and it took the grime right off. I suspect any good cleaner would do the job with the steel wool.

Even with the big stabilizers on the back (seen in the background), we were still getting a bit of rocking and bouncing when we walked down the center of the fifth wheel. The fact that they sit on grass and not concrete may have an effect on that. On the advice of the RV park manager, we picked up some individual stabilizing jacks and placed them right behind the wheels. These are rated for about 6,000 pounds, and they definitely gave us a more solid feeling in the living area. They came as a set of four, so we can still place two more in front of the wheels if we feel the need.

We mentioned at the office that we were still getting some rocking in the forward part of the rig. One of the ladies who works there gave us this tripod which she hadn’t used in a long time. I’ve read conflicting opinions and attitudes about the tripods, but we found that, once we installed it, the rig felt solid.

After a trip to an emergency clinic to treat a cut in my head, I decided to make some of the head-knockers a bit less dangerous. This bedroom slide has an edge that was just waiting to get me. Swimming pool noodles are perfect for the job. We couldn’t find them in white, but I’ve found that the color catches my eye when I get close.

These little twirly things are good attention getters as well. This one has already reminded me to watch my head quite a few times.

The rig has a “galley holding tank”, which is a second gray water tank dedicated to waste water from the kitchen sink. It has its own dump valve, which wasn’t covered in the walk-thru. Once again proving that Google is my friend, I searched and found that this valve is located up under the trailer, between the tires. This tank dumps into the main sewer pipe under the rig.

Typical of most RVs, the system monitors aren’t completely reliable. I had read about the toilet “burping” when the black tank began to get full, but never experienced it in a motorhome. Sure enough, this tank lets you know when it’s full by burping when the toilet is flushed. I discovered that the tank should be dumped pretty quickly once the burping started.

PPL Motorhomes had an offer on the Bounder, and had it listed as “Sale Pending” for a few days. Then we got word that the sale had fallen through, so it’s back on the lot. Hopefully, it’s at least a sign that buyers are finding it to be an attractive rig for the price.

I think I’ve mentioned that we have our sights set on an RV park in the Austin, Texas area. That will be our long-term home base. We heard from the folks at the park last week, touching base to let us know we are next on the list for one of our preferred sites. It’s possible one of those preferred sites will become available the first of January.

Meanwhile, we are comfortable here at Advanced RV Park on the outskirts of Houston. It’s cold, but the furnace works fine and is keeping us warm. We are fortunate that we are not having the heavy early winter weather being felt in other parts of the United States.

Welcome!

Our odyssey began on an RV sales lot in January 2011. From there, we turned a twenty year dream into reality, living and travelling in a self-contained motorhome for three years. This is an account of that life. Today, we travel less, but still, the siren call of the road is loud and strong.